Welfare in the seventies: rise or fall?

ABSTRACT

Interpretations of the seventies often rest on the category of crisis. Moreover, the topic of the welfare state has rarely been systematically addressed in historical studies of this decade. This article has three objectives. First, it seeks to place the historical evolution of the Italian welfare state within this double context in order to understand how analysing Italy’s welfare system can contribute to providing a more complete interpretation of this decade. The second objective is to verify to what extent is it true that, in quantitative terms, there was too great an increase in spending. The third objective is to assess whether and to what extent the external factors that led to the restructuring of European welfare systems also affected Italy.

RIASSUNTO

Le interpretazioni degli anni Settanta risultano spesso appiattite sulla categoria della crisi. Inoltre, gli studi sul decennio hanno raramente affrontato in modo sistematico il tema delle politiche di welfare. Questo saggio si propone perciò tre obiettivi. Il primo è di collocare l’evoluzione storica del Welfare State italiano all’interno di questo duplice contesto, al fine di comprendere in che modo l’analisi del sistema italiano di welfare può fornire un’interpretazione più completa del decennio. Il secondo è di verificare e in che misura sia corretta l’idea di una sua crescita eccessiva sul piano quantitativo. Il terzo obiettivo è infine di valutare se e quanto i fattori esogeni che portarono ovunque a ristrutturare i sistemi di Welfare europei abbiano coinvolto anche la Penisola, condizionandone lo sviluppo.

KEYWORDS:

• seventies in Italy
• welfare state
• social rights
• social security
• National Health System
• history of the pension schemes

PAROLE CHIAVE:

• Anni Settanta in Italia
• Welfare State
• Sicurezza Sociale
• Sistema Sanitario Nazionale
• Storia dei sistemi pensionistici

Notes

1. CGIL, AS, CD, Minutes, meeting of 18 April 1968.

2. ACS, MI, GAB, 1967–1970, b. 163, f. 1443/81, report of the prefect of Torino, 26 April 1968; b. 418, f. 16995/48, quarterly report of the prefect of Milan, April–July 1968.

3. CGIL, AS, CD, Minutes, meeting of 18 April 1968, pp. 8–14.

4. FG, APC, DIR, meeting of 2 July 1968, p. 769; meeting of 26 July 1968, p. 861.

5. CGIL, AS, CD, Minutes, meeting of 10 July 1968, pp. 15–21.

6. CISL, AS, CG, 1968, f. 73, general council meeting, 22–24 July 1968.

7. FN, APN, SC, b. 20, f. 1162, cf., for example, Brodolini to Nenni, 1 July 1969.

8. CISL, AS, SG, SC, 1969, report of General Secretary Bruno Storti, 20 February 1969

9. FN, FGG, b. 50, f. 3, Commission for the Statute of the Workers, meeting to establish the commission 23 January 1969.

10. FN, APN, SC, b. 20, f. 1162, Brodolini to Nenni, 1 July 1969

11. FN, FGG, b. 50, f. 3, Commission for the Statute of the Workers, meetings of 31 January and 6 February 1969.

12. CGIL, AS, CD, meeting of 13 November 1969, p. 3.

13. CISL, AS, SG, SC, 1969, circular dated 27 September 1969; statement of General Secretary Bruno Storti, 21 October 1969.

14. CGIL, AS, CD, meeting of 13 November 1969, pp. 5–10.

15. ACS, PCM, proceedings of the council of ministers, 1974–1976, b. 113, f. 7/2, letter from the legislative office of the Minister of Transport to the Minister of Health, 23 July 1974; memo of the legislative office of the Minister of Health to the prime minister dated 7 August 1974. In particular, the Ministry of the Interior was afraid the prefects would lose their power to control and supervise the state of public health in their provinces and the Minister of Transport did not want to transfer the administration of the independent health care service of the Ferrovie dello Stato to the regions.

16. CGIL, AS, CD, Minutes, 21 September 1970, pp. 4–23, 7 October 1970, pp. 5–21.

17. L. Cortese (ed.), Movimento studentesco. Storia e documenti, Milan: Bompiani, 1973.

18. ACS, PCM, proceedings of the council of ministers, CNEL, Relazione preliminare sulla riforma della previdenza sociale, 1963

19. Ibid., CNEL, Osservazioni e proposte sulla riforma della previdenza sociale, 1963.

20. CGIL, AS, CD, meeting of 3 February 1969, pp. 2–10.

21. FN, AGG, b. 5, f. 12, Emendamenti al Senato, April 1970.

22. CGIL, AS, CD, November 1977, Ipotesi organica di riforma delle attività di previdenza e assistenza, 21 November 1977.

23. This expression refers to the right to retire after only 20 years of work, reduced to 15 for women who are married or who have a child, regardless of age and state of health.

24. Cf., for example, ACS, MI, DGPS, CA, 1953, report of the provincial police superintendent for the province of Turin dated 2 December 1953, report of the prefect of Pavia dated 3 August 1953, report of the prefect of Bologna dated 6 November 1954.

25. ACS, MI, DGPS, GAB, 1976–1980, b. 373, biannual report of the Prefect of Milan, second half of 1976, dated 8 January 1977.

26. CGIL, AS, CD, Minutes, meeting of 16 November 1976, introductory report of Rinaldo Scheda, pp. 3–25.

27. ACS, MI, DGPS, GAB, 1976–1980, b. 374, report from the prefect of Milan for the first six months of 1977 dated 7 July 1977; b. 375, report from the prefect of Rome for the second six months of 1977 dated 10 January 1978.

28. Ibid., report from the prefect of Milan for the second semester of 1976 dated 8 January 1977.

29. “Clamorosa invasione con pretesti politici. Rome: saccheggiata la Standa da trenta giovani”, in Corriere della Sera, 14 November 1976; C. Rivolta, “Dalla spesa proletaria al diritto al lusso”, in La Repubblica, 24 February 1977; R. Di Rienzo, “Dall’assedio alla Scala al Natale autoridotto”, in L’Espresso, 19 December 1976.

30. “Quel che volevamo marciando alla Scala era di farvi paura”, in La Repubblica, 12 December 1976

31. CGIL, AS, CD, 10 January 1977.

32. “Ma che volete da questi operai”, interview with Luciano Lama, in La Repubblica, 12 January 1977. Communist secretary Enrico Berlinguer devoted numerous articles and speeches to this topic which were finally collected in a volume, E. Berlinguer, Austerità occasione per cambiare l’Italia, Rome: Editori Riuniti 1977.

33. FG, APC, Serie Organizzazione, 1977, f. 39, Notizie sulla campagna congressuale, February 1977.

34. ACS, MI, DGPS, GAB, 1976–1980, b. 31, reports from the prefects of Florence dated 17 January 1977, Cosenza dated 8 January 1977, Catania dated 1 February 1977; b. 374, Milan dated 7 July 1977, Cremona dated 11 July 1977, Ferrara dated 4 July 1977, Forlì dated 7 July 1977, Genoa dated 15 July 1977, Arezzo dated 7 July 1977, Ancona dated 7 July 1977 and Agrigento dated 16 July 1977.

35. CGIL, AS, CD, 25 November 1977, p. 49.

36. ACS, MI, DGPS, GAB, 1976–1980, b. 375, reports from the prefects of Arezzo, 4 January 1978, Brindisi dated 31 December 1977, Milan dated 9 January 1978, Venice dated 18 January 1978 and Rome dated 10 January 1978.

37. ACS, PCM, proceedings of the council of ministers, 1976–1977, b. 128, f. 8, statement from the press office of the prime minister, 29 October 1976.

38. Parliamentary proceedings, Chamber of Deputies, VII Legislature, Discussions, sitting from 16 to 23 December 1978, pp. 26148–26156.

39. ACS, PCM, proceedings of the council of ministers, 1976–1978, b. 131, f. 17/1, letter from the Ministry of the Treasury to the prime minister dated 6 November 1978.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paolo Mattera

Paolo Mattera teaches Contemporary History at the University of Roma Tre. His recent publications are: L’Ombre de la Guerre Froide, Paris: L’Harmattan, and Il conflitto ben temperato, Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.